Make Powerful Synth Sounds Using the Unison Effect

Today, we're discussing the unison effect. As some may know, one of the easiest ways to get ready-made sounds on a soft synth is to browse its presets. You can take that further by adding external effects and understanding their processes and parameters. In this tutorial, we will show you how to turn a simple preset sawtooth-based lead into a much more powerful sound. We will do this by using the unison effect. Let's start by listening to a simple pattern in our SoundBridge: DAW.

 

~Full Mix - Without Synth Chord Sequence

As mentioned, we will add a chord progression using a simple sawtooth waveform. Let's hear it without any processing.

~Synth Chord Sequence - Unprocessed

As we can hear from the audio example, our synth sounds quite dull. It lacks depth, movement, and many other things. We can drastically change that by applying the unison effect. First, let's get familiar with the effect itself.

The unison effect happens when we multiply the number of original voices of an incoming sound using a synthesizer. Additional oscillators would generate those voices. Then, it's possible to detune each voice independently from each other. With specific settings, this will create a much bigger and wider sound than the original. Old hardware synths offered this option since they could reproduce two, four, or eight times the number of original voices. Technology has developed a lot since then, and nowadays, those numbers can be much higher. 

Several software plugins are good choices for this task. One of them is MUnison by MeldaProductions.  Let's start by adding a fresh instance of this plugin on our synth chord sequence channel and getting to know its essential functions.

The MUnison Parameters

MUnison is capable of capturing and analyzing the pitch of an original incoming signal and generating extra virtual voices on top of it. 

The upper part of the interface has two big knobs, one of which determines the number of virtual voices, from 0 up to 50. The second knob is the mix between dry and wet signals. Below that, we have the "Keep Formant" and "Formant Shift" parameters, which reduce or increase the altering of the spectral envelope. "Follow Voices" controls how much other parameters follow the number of voices. The "Threshold" defines the minimum input level at which the plugin generates additional voices. Finally, the Gain or "Output" represents the level increase applied to the output signal.

The lower section of the MUnison has four different panels. These are Pitch, Stereo, Formants, and Delay.

The Pitch panel controls the pitch of the artificial unison voices. The Stereo Panel controls their stereo field. The Formants panel controls the formant changes of the artificial voices, and the Delay panel controls the delay for each. Every panel has parameters for Depth, Shape, Variate, and Speed. These are very useful to generate more natural movement on the final sound. Now that we've become familiar with the most prominent parameters of the MUnison, we can start processing our chord progression. Let's look at how we set the parameters for this task.

Processing for the Unison Effect

In this case, we feel an additional four voices would be enough, followed by a 50% setting on the Dry/Wet mix knob. Keep the Formants parameter set up to 100% since we want to preserve the characteristics of the original signal as much as possible. Follow Voices is set to 2.50x, while all other parameters in this section are off.

The Pitch variation panel we will set with depth at 0.10, Variate at 50%, and Speed at 20%. The stereo panel's depth is set to 100% for a maximum widening of the stereo field. The Formant panel's parameters will be set with depth at 20%, Variate at 50%, and Speed at 20%. Finally, the Delay panel's parameters induce a slight modulation of the original signal. We will set the Time parameter at 40ms and Speed at 20%.

Let's now compare the unprocessed and processed versions of our synth chord sequence.

~Synth Chord Sequence - Unprocessed

~Synth Chord Sequence - Processed With MUnison

For a better chance of hearing the dramatic effect of this type of processing, let's listen to the unprocessed and processed synth chord progression with the other elements of the mix.

~Full Mix -  Synth Chord Sequence (Unprocessed)

~Full Mix -  Synth Chord Sequence (Processed With MUnison)